


simple

by kinpika



Series: time, and time again [3]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: And you end up running into the boyf, Blatant Flirting, Convenient Timing, Explosions, F/M, Post-Canon, Shoutout to the Milky Way, Some fourth wall breaking, Spoilers, When you go to clean out a building of mercs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-05-19
Packaged: 2018-11-02 13:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10945476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinpika/pseuds/kinpika
Summary: “It was a good day. Until I fell down here.”“You—youfell?"One trip down a mineshaft later, it's amazing the kind of people you run into on uncharted planets.





	simple

“Pathfinder, you have an incoming call.”

“Kinda busy, SAM!”

“It’s urgent.”

“Whoever it is can hold — Cora, one o’clock!” 

Just as Cora takes off, slamming into some poor mercenary who thought it would be fun to ambush them, Ariel takes off right. With the force of her impact blowing the next guy clean off his feet, coupled with a choice bullet that left quite a hole in his helmet, her side of the room went still. And then, absolute silence. Stepping off the turian she had floored, Ariel looks around, sees the raised hand from Cora and Jaal to suggest ‘clear’, and finally lets her gaze fall towards the ceiling.

“Alright, SAM, hit me. Who is it?”

This particular base was vaguely Kett in origin, but some exiles had decided to retrofit it with all kinds of other technology. And in Ariel’s experience with every group this cluster had to throw at her, there was bound to be a few hidden doors. Maybe even an escape route to the surface of the planet. After getting all the way down, only to find the doors locked behind them, Ariel was itching to get back out there.

“Reyes Vidal.”

“Wait, _really_?” Ariel has about three different responses on the tip of her tongue, but with present company, she opts for the safer question of “what the fuck does he want?” 

Not that she was mad at him. Oh no, quite the opposite in fact. Thinking about Reyes in any capacity normally sent her into a pink haze of sighing and smiling — according to Peebee, at least, but Ariel was pretty sure that was pure exaggeration. Her genuine surprise and slip of colourful language was more to do with Reyes contacting her outside Kadara’s orbit with anything other than an email. As a general practice, unless she was on the Tempest, private channel only, did he call.

“He did not want to reveal that information to me.” Was it her imagination, or did SAM actually sound upset over that?

“Aw, SAM, don’t let it get you down.”

Her AI gives nothing in the way of disappointment, but with his “patching him through,” Ariel could swear for just a moment, it was such a ‘her’ thing to do. Well, SAM had once said that a lot of his mannerisms derived from the original owner — her father — so it wasn’t hard to believe that after a couple of years he started to sound a lot like her instead. Still weird to consider, even if it made sense.

Crouching down, Ariel begins to pat down the now quite deceased mercenaries. Anything that was worth taking back to break down, at least. “Mama needs a new helmet,” she says quietly to herself, when she finds a heavily modified yet remarkably weak shotgun attached to the back of an asari. Perfect. 

_“Do you always talk to yourself like that?”_

Ariel doesn’t want to admit she smiles at the sound of his voice, but she totally smiles at the sound of his voice. Stripping another mercenary of thermal clips, and another of his omni-gel, Ariel finally stands. Ready to go up another floor. “Only sometimes, when I know I have an audience.”

An audible groan from Jaal sounds through the comms, far louder than Reyes’ slight chuckle. Ariel hadn’t realised they’d already left her to play scavenger, and joins them on the stairs, lifting herself up the last few to land heavy-footed beside Cora. 

“So… to what do I owe this pleasure, Mr Vidal?” Her mouth moves, but so do her hands and eyes, motioning Jaal and Cora to either side of the door, weapons raised. Hitting the lock, they move in, keeping a close eye on the next door. As quiet as mice, the adventurers move forward.

 _“You are quite close to some information I would need to… source. For future uses.”_ Honestly, she does stumble a little at his words. How did he know where she was _now_? Did he put a tracker in her suit like the last time? Not that she hadn’t done the same, out of retaliation more than anything, but seriously. This guy was most definitely the Andromeda Galaxy’s answer to the Shadow Broker. Ariel half expected to find out he’d already bugged the bunker they’d fallen into but was just waiting for an in.

“Reyes… are you stalking me?”

He pauses, as if considering what his next words should be. _“Stalking is such a_ strong _word.”_

Next door open, and Ariel doesn’t give the three mercenaries in the room a chance to turn around, full body slam into the one in the centre, arms outstretched to catch the other two. It had been so long since she’d been able to cut loose like this. But then she remembered the fourth man, and between breaths asks: “and yet?” 

_“Well, I won’t admit nor deny my intentions.”_

“You know, you could just ask me out to dinner. Like a normal person. I’m not opposed to steak.”

_“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”_

“Just like… do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had steak?” Noticing that one of the mercenaries was decidedly still alive, Ariel opts to kick him in the head. “Thick cuts of meat. Juicy and dripping.” Stopping mid-sentence, she imagined the last steak she had on the Citadel before leaving on the Hyperion. “And in my body.” Her mouth was practically watering, just thinking about proper food. Drack made proper food, and it was no surprise that the old man was by far her most favourite person in the galaxy. Didn’t mean she couldn’t help little comment, tacked on at the end and totally not needed.

 _“Please, do go on.”_ If his response came out kind of breathy, it wasn’t wholly missed. Not by anyone in her group either, not at all.

Grinning, very thankful for tinted visors, Ariel opens her mouth to respond once again when—

“Anytime you two want to take this to a private link, be my guest.” 

“Hah! Sorry, Cora.”

_“My apologies as well.”_

Cora makes a face at Ariel, just barely visible through the visor of her helmet, and there was no doubt that Jaal was mimicking the exact same face. “What?” she asks, and rests her hands on her hips. That was not the worst thing to come out of her mouth, and they all knew it. 

Breath sufficiently caught, resupplied and room stripped, Ariel motions for them to move on. From the map SAM provided, they had at least another five floors — assuming of course, everything went according to plan. “Anyway, backtracking a bit… what did you want us to find?”

_“Just proof.”_

“Of?” Silence. “Reyes, light of my life, I’m not going to pull every damn answer from you. Either you tell me or I’m cutting the link.”

_“Hang on. One minute. Busy.”_

More silence fills the comm, followed by a “he _hung_ _up_ on me. I can’t _believe_ this.” Kicking a crate in frustration, Ariel was grateful for high-grade armour that protected her toes, because holy shit that thing was made of more than just the usual metal. If she had been in any other kind of mindset, she might’ve cared a little, but then Jaal speaks up.

“Is this not common amongst humans?” And really, she can’t fault him, because the cultural whiplash Jaal experienced on such a regular basis was probably too much. Especially since they weren’t all the typical types on the Tempest, and more than once Jaal had asked questions when seeing the more traditional turians, straight-laced asari or even just other humans and gone ‘explain, _please_ ’. No wonder the cultural centre was his favourite place — even if Ariel had to admit it fudged a lot of the actual history. 

“Jaal, you only hang up on someone when you want them to kick your ass.”

At the confusion on his face, Ariel raises her hand to her forehead, until she remembers _helmet_. Settles for at least looking like she’s covering her face, so it didn’t look as awkward as it felt. “Idiom. Just… Interrupts me in the middle of a firefight, then fucks off whenever he—”

“Ryder, four o’clock!”

Just barely hitting her omni-tool, Ariel switches to her cloak mostly cleanly, admittedly taking a brush against her shoulder from being so damn distracted. And here they were, being all witty and flirty, until he hung up on her! Reyes calls her first, then leaves her with the bill like always. From cover, she leaps up, charging across the room to introduce one poor soul to the wall. They were going to have a long chat about this the next time she saw his face. Completely soured her mood.

“How much further, SAM?” Cora makes it through the door, and from where she was standing, Ariel could see her craning her neck, as if trying to work out how much higher this damn building went. The sooner they got out the better, because she could start to feel the burn at the base of her skull, implants erring on fizzing out. That would be just her luck.

“Calculating. One moment, please.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy taking out some more dickheads hanging around outposts, but this is just…” Motioning up the side, Ariel wonders if she could potentially just jump the rest of the way up. If only the flare of her biotics hadn’t begun to physically hurt, she might’ve made it.

“There are another three levels. Large numbers of heat signatures suggests a last stand from the mercenaries.”

As Ariel sighs out an “of course it’s a last stand,” Cora speaks again, this time looking directly at her.

“No more notice from Reyes?”

Shaking her head, Ariel simply presses on. “No, and I’m gonna kill him when I see him next.”

Finally, as there is a crackle through her ear, she hears a voice that sounded slightly more exhausted than it had earlier. _“I assume I am ‘him’?”_

No time to ask what he had been up to. “Damn straight you are.” Shotgun up to her shoulder, Ariel cleanly takes out one mercenary who tried to jump her at the door. These mercs were literally crawling up the walls, and that made Ariel feel a little weirder than usual. Don’t think about it, she says to herself, dropping another two down as Jaal makes short work of three. Don’t think.

_“Truly, you are generous with the remarks today.”_

“It was a good day. Until I fell down here.”

 _“You—you_ fell _? Are you alright?!”_ No, she wasn’t happy that he cared. She was an angry ball of rage, who just happened to have a lot of expendables in front of her, sadly on the receiving end of her temper. 

There was just something so satisfying about getting in close to an enemy and neatly lopping their head off with that asari made blade she found. Maybe that said something about her — didn’t want Lexi to find out, then she’d never hear the end of it. “Just peachy.” With any luck, Reyes would hear her tone and realise that he’d made a grave mistake. But that was just as unlikely as the mercenaries getting their act together and actually stopping them.

Now, if the mercenaries were smart, they would try to hold their three man squad on the stairs and shoot through all the railing. But alas, brains were in short supply, and floor three and two were sufficiently emptied of people. Except, of course, from some heavies. With big guns. Lots of armour. Ariel was sure one of them was floating around, playing at being invisible and shit, but right now she had adjusted the handling on the flamethrower, and was aiming it at one poor bastard.

_“I can hear you fighting from here. You may want to do something about that.”_

“Really, Reyes? That thought hadn’t crossed my mind at all!”

 _“Again with the sass!”_ He laughs, and Ariel hoped he understood from her grunt that if he was anywhere within arm’s reach, he would’ve received a nice punch. Squarely in the jaw. Amazing how the man was so capable of making her go between zero and a hundred so fast. And if he was just antagonising her on purpose, _well,_ did she have some news for him.

_“Once you are done with the fighting, dear, can you please check for any signs of tattoos?”_

“Tattoos? You mean you want me to get these mercs _naked_?”

 _“Ideally, it would be on their neck or shoulders.”_ From the sounds of it, Reyes was quite ignoring her comments now. With a snort, Ariel wasn’t sure how to interpret that. 

“If this is some kind of kinky bullshit, Reyes, we’re gonna need to have a talk…”

 _“It is not.”_ Oh, clipped answer. Short and sharp. That was his ‘boss’ voice Ariel had heard him use on lower level bodies before throwing them into fights. Unable to stop herself from looking up, she just had to wonder what he was honestly up to (but if that wasn’t just her constant mood anyway).

Doing as he asked, ever so politely, whilst ignoring the way Jaal and Cora seem even more displeased by the whole situation. Lighting up the blade function on her omni-tool, Ariel sears through layers of slapped together armour — mindful of actual skin in the off chance it came off too. Finding nothing in where Reyes had told her it may have been, she moves on to the next closest mercenary. Outwardly, this one appeared a little too clean compared to the others she had encountered. Maybe one of the people trying to run this place. Finding nothing on the neck, Ariel moves to cut through the shoulder pads, when Cora speaks up.

“I found a tattoo.”

“Oh thank god.” Getting up, Ariel makes her way over to Cora. “It’s a… okay. I don’t know what that is.”

“An Eclipse gang symbol.” Ariel does not ask why Cora knows that particular piece of information so intimately, but she's already covering the tattoo up. Giving the deceased some decency, no matter who they are. “So, they followed us here. They were supposed to screen everyone _thoroughly_.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve figured people cut in, you know.” There had been so many people they’d run into who were just begging the question of who let them into the Initiative. Well, whilst Ariel hadn’t started the investigation into the ‘Benefactor’, she also hadn’t let anyone else know. Not yet. Another time. Don’t think about that now, she reminds herself. “I mean, Cerberus got out here, too, don’t forget.”

“Are these Eclipse ‘bad’?” Jaal talks next, crouching beside Cora. “It’s not going to be like the Outlaws again?”

“That’s a matter of perspective. Eclipse was compromised mostly of asari, especially commandos. They were just guns for hire. There were some rumours out of Illium but…” Cora finally stands, arms crossed. “They helped save an entire cluster of humans from batarians. So, compared to some of the other gangs that were running around in the Milky Way, Eclipse is largely overlooked.”

Jaal blinks, absorbing that information slowly. Revealing some bad Milky Way history, no doubt, that he would never have found at a culture centre. Ariel could only imagine the kind of questions when they got back on the Tempest. “One good deed outweighed all the rest?” 

With a nod, Cora finally looked over at Ariel. “Just our luck, right?”

“Don’t even talk to me about luck right now. Mine is still recovering.” Conversation over. Well, they got the information Reyes wanted. “You get all that, Reyes?”

Oddly quiet. Normally he would’ve cut in with some remarks, trying to be all cute, but she finally hears a huff. _“I suspected as much. At least that confirms it for me. Thank you, Ariel.”_

“And _Cora_ ,” Ariel reminds him, since like hell she knew about that shit. “She actually knew what it was you were looking for.”

_“Of course. Thank you, Ms Harper. We would’ve been here for a while had it not been for you.”_

“Hey… what does that even _mean_?” But Ariel’s complaint falls on deaf ears, as Cora hammers out a confused “thanks”. There was still that level of irritation present amongst her crew, even if Reyes appearing right at the end in person dispelled some of the overwhelming distrust. Whilst Ariel was sure no one would have him around with their back turned, at least grumpy comments on Kadara had dwindled down to just complaints about the smell (and if there was still talk behind her back, Ariel had long since learned to plug her ears and move on).

“Alright, we haven’t got much further to go.”

“Condensed heat signatures from the next level, but none above that, suggest you are near the end, Ryder.”

“Sweet. Thanks, SAM.”

Raising her hands above her shoulders, Ariel stretches, and marches on. “Reyes, if you want anything before I get out of here, now would be the time.”

From the other end of the line, she could hear mumbled conversations. Orders, most likely. She would press for details later, when they were alone. This could surely be considered one of the ‘big things’, since he just so happened to be within range — also begged the question of ‘was he tracking her’? Not every day a she ended up on some uncharted planet with her sweetheart within orbit. Halfway tempted to check if they were raiding some big bad’s lair instead of just happened to walk in on a mercenary operation.

“He has muted the line, Ryder.”

“At least he didn’t just hang up again this time, I suppose.”

Hitching the belt of her armour up, she felt around for a protein bar. “One more floor, and then we’re good.” Biting through the bar without much notice, she kind of wished that she could see through the metal so they actually knew how many people they were dealing with.

Ariel also wished Reyes would just tell her what she was supposed to be looking for, but that was asking probably too much.

“You good, Cora? Jaal?”

Wrapper crinkling in Cora’s fist, she nods around a mouthful. Jaal too, a lot more thought put into his actions than theirs. Another difference that amused her greatly. The first confused look on Jaal’s face when the resident biotics downed their meals a helluva lot faster than the others after their first trip out with him would stay with her forever. 

“Alright. Let’s go.”

The fight starts with a _bang!_ Smoke fills the room, inhibiting both Cora and herself. How Jaal deals with it isn’t really a concern when someone tries to get the jump on her, and she reacts with an elbow thrown back in an attempt to remove them. Just her luck. Part of her debates going for a blind charge into the fire to not only rid her of her attacker, but to also close in on the enemies. 

Cora is the one to finally off the few salarians who had tried to close in. Diving behind cover, Ariel offers a thumbs up in the way of thanks, and squints through the cloud to see where Jaal had ended up. 

“We gotta get over there!” Throwing her head in the direction of majority of fire, she receives a nod. Well, if it was the both of them blindly diving in, they’d have a more chance.

“Jaal, can you see through all this?”

 _“Barely. The new scope is being tested to it’s limits.”_ Voice filtering through the comms, Ariel doesn’t try to look around to find him. They really needed to vent the area. After the door behind them had sealed, it was holding in everything. Unlock the door or take out the enemy? 

“Shit.”

 _“I can provide_ some _covering fire. It’s getting almost unbearable.”_

Speaking up, Cora moves to the next crate. “They are shooting just as blind as us.” True. But was it just her imagination, or did everything seem a bit thicker. It was even coming in through her filter, air tasting heavy on her tongue.

“If they’re trying to fucking poison us, I swear to—”

Another _boom!_ It was like the entire foundation of the building shook. “Fuck!” Crates shift, exposing her side, and Ariel barely has enough time to move. But, _but_ , it seems to have helped.

“Ryder, that explosion has opened both doors.”

“How? Actually, don’t want to know! As long as it gets rid of some of this smoke!”

Looking over the top of her new cover, she can finally get a lock on some turian. “I know you said these were Eclipse, Cora, but damn if they aren’t asari!” Last words she gets out, when the world slows around her, and behind the turians visor, she sees raw fear.

“I didn’t say they all were! Just that some of them must have been!”

“Okay, true!” It was so satisfying, releasing a rush of energy, fist meeting the ground and throwing the mercenaries off their feet. And timing it with Cora? Well, that was just blind luck, with Jaal taking the opportunity to sufficiently remove whoever was left. Unloading one last clip into a mercenary, she can finally see through the haze.

“You know… I hate fighting in smoke.” It was still smoky, reminding her of the deeper parts of the Citadel, of all places. Chora’s Den especially, and not in a particularly good way. Ah man, she missed bar fights. So much easier then.

“Alright, let’s get this door open! Team building exercise!” With a pump of her fist in the air, she ignores the withering looks, casual grin on her face. “Oh, come on. How long has it been since we’ve spent time together like this?”

Jaal snorts, but slides his fingers along the opening of the door, a slight tug to test how much it was going to give. “I should have known that going out with you meant falling down _something_.” 

Taking the other side, Ariel plants her feet firmly. “Jaal, you don’t have to lie to me. I know you miss this.” She just knows he’s smiling, under all that armour. 

Cora stands a few feet from the door, arms raised. “Ready?”

“Go for it.”

At once, Jaal and Ariel heave the doors towards them. Flaring out the corner of Ariel’s eye, Cora approaches, and between the opening, pushes alongside them. “Go, go!”

Releasing, Ariel ducks under Cora’s arm, turns and continues to hold the door. “Jaal!”

“Never a dull moment…” His mumble has both of them laugh, but he mimics Ariel’s movements, a little more strain in his shoulders as he keeps a grip on the door.

“Cora!”

As she pushes through the door, they release it. All at once, it slams closed, and the laughter doesn’t stop. “I’ve missed this.” 

Hands on her knees, Cora finally pushes herself up, shaking her head. “Honestly, Ryder…” But Ariel knows that when she walks, she’s not all keyed up and careful. Cora missed this too. Assisting the asari pathfinder through dark space must not have been as exciting as her emails led Ariel to believe. 

“Homebound now.”

Just as her feet hit the last set of stairs, does she hear the link. Honestly, she had forgotten it was still open. Crackling greeted her ear, but as they entered the last room (thankfully _empty_ ), does a voice trail through. 

 _“Ryder? R…—zzt—Ryder?_ Ariel _, —zzt— are you still—zzt—?!”_ Well, if that wasn’t a first. Second time, technically. She still remembered the way his voice caught when the remnant closed behind them and comms cut on Meridian. But still, the way he was insistently calling her name said so much. She wasn’t going to deny that it actually made her feel a little warm, knowing he worried so much.

“SAM, a little help?”

“One moment.”

_“That’s the fu—zzt—finder… —zzt— you know what the Charlatan — Ariel?!”_

“Reyes?” At the last door, the one that lead to the surface, she can hear the chatter. The way he says her name, as if he was right on the other side. And Reyes had even brought the Charlatan name into the matter, which said more than anything. Not a risk of exposure, oh no, but blatantly raising her importance to _Hi_ _m_. 

_“Ryder? Ariel? Oh thank god, are you okay?”_

“That’s the second time today you’ve asked me that.” Smiling despite herself, she fiddles with the lock, as if trying to appear busy. It wasn’t working at all, but didn’t mean she stopped. 

 _“We—Well. An unfortunate accident meant we lost radio contact with a lot of people in the area.”_ And Reyes spectacularly skirted around what really happened. Ariel had half a mind to ask if the explosion originated from him, and whatever the hell he was up to, but decided against it. From the sounds of it, he wasn’t too happy, and it wasn’t time to dig her fingers into that wound, not just yet.

“Here I thought you just hung up again.” Teasing. She could do teasing. Try to make his tone lighter. With a look over her shoulder, she notices Cora calling her over, and follows.

_“No… Not again. Are you alright?”_

“Third time’s the charm, Reyes. But yeah, we’re good. Last door. Just trying to get power to it.”

_“That may not… work.”_

“Oh?” Wow, that explosion had done more damage than she had expected. Sure, she had noticed a few generators near where they pulled up but Ariel hadn’t figured it was all connected to this. 

_“We are trying to figure a workaround, of course. Fortunately for you.”_

Searing along the edges along with Jaal on one particular crate, they all reach to raise the lid, heaving it to the side. Initiative supplies. Different, but at this point Ariel expected to be finding this kind of stuff in several years. The Nexus’ list of what was missing was still very, very long. “Yes, we’re so fortunate. Stuck here.” Next crate. 

Empty. Damn. _“Well, you could try to find some information for me while you’re there. Your fancy AI should be able to power a few computers to pull logs.”_ Ariel looks around for what Reyes was referring to, and found only a few terminals. There was no way to get back down, short of jumping the railing and hoping for the best. Datapads were still functional, Jaal breezing through a few, just shaking his head when she made a motion to what they contained. Normal grunt chatter. Letters to relatives somewhere in Heleus. 

But she stands in front of one terminal, tapping a few keys to see if it was running on some backup power no one knew about. SAM confirms in the negative, that the explosion had in fact likely rattled a generator or two, and short of pulling a hard drive free (if she could find it), these weren’t coming back online anytime soon. “Yeah, let me just pull that cord out and plug it from my head into the computer, Reyes. That will do the trick.” With a snort, she begins patting under desks, trying to find the good ol’ datadisc-taped-to-underside trick. 

Just barely, she manages to hear a chuckle. He really _had_ been worried. _“Divert some power from your omni-tool?”_ Wasn’t he so clever. She does it anyway, if only to humour him. All Ariel receives is a blip and then nothing. 

“Nope.”

_“Damn. We’re just going to have to pull it out ourselves, then. Nothing else in the surrounding area?”_

“We’re only operating on our flashlights at this point. Blew out a few lights in the smoke, no emergency lights.” 

 _“Crates?”_ Either this was a distraction, or he was going to have her go through everything by hand. Either way, Ariel signalled for Cora and Jaal to stop. As if mercenaries were dumb enough to keep everything by the front door, anyway.

“You’re always sending me on fetch quests, you know.” Casual observation, as Ariel hoists herself onto a sealed crate. Her implants were burning, and there was enough oxygen down here to last a little longer. She could afford to just _talk_ for a moment. And watch Jaal determinedly walk over to the door, his own tool brought up, as if trying to get it to work himself (if he did get it to work, Ariel was going to buy him all the fancy fruit to take home to his family to share, cross her heart).

For one whole minutes, Reyes actually gave off the sound of stunned silence. _“A_ what _quest?”_

“You know, fetch quests?” Her knowledge of video game dynamics was finally coming in handy. All that time spent playing the _Fleet &Flotilla_ game was going to pay off, one day, after all. “Useless things you collect to raise affection in games? So you can hook up with a love interest.” 

 _“Then I promise, you are certainly raising my affection.”_ Hah, there was that flirty talk she had been missing so much. If this was a video game, she must have chosen the little option that had a heart on it, for sure. _“Also, please look at that crate to your left.”_

“Are you… are you watching me?” It would explain _so much_ about how he just happened to know where she was, at that particular moment. 

 _“Don’t be ridiculous.”_ Liar. 

“Do you have _everything_ bugged?”

 _“Sadly, no. Some things out of principle.”_ She knew for a fact that meant the Tempest. Everything else? Not so much.

“But this is a _thing_?”

_“I—Ryder, please. Just make sure there’s nothing volatile inside it. We’re nearly ready.”_

Shrugging at the confused expression Cora sends her, they set to work. ‘Nearly ready’ meant a lot of things. Especially from him. With a grunt, they manage to pull the lid free and find—“It’s empty.”

Reyes’ sigh of relief filters through her ears, and she listens to him speak to his men. Muting the line, so that Reyes wouldn’t be able to hear, she finally turns back to her two wily friends.

“Okay… now we just have to get out this door. Find out where we ended up and call the Tempest for extraction. Simple.” Holding her hands out, Ariel signalled for opening the floor for ideas, something Cora spoke up to immediately. Good to see the post-Meridian business hadn’t meant everyone lost the normal groove that went on between the team. 

“We need the Nomad, too. It should be parked in front of where we started.” True. Right before they landed ass over head down some dingy hole that just kept going south. 

Jaal, ever the optimist, spoke up as well. “I’m starting to believe it’s still on the other side of this mountain.” He wasn’t giving up on the door, apparently. Ariel didn’t think that trying to slice through with the omniblade was going to work, but she wasn’t going to tell him that either.

“Yeah… I don’t particularly feel like climbing a mountain to get it back. And turning around now isn’t going to work.” After all, they weren’t able to climb up the first time they fell down. There was an even lower chance now. 

“So. Door is our best option. Great. Anyone got some explosives handy because, honestly, I don’t feel like doing this the right way.” Surely one of them could magic a grenade or two out of some pocket. She had forgone the mines today herself, but it wasn’t as if she was expecting to use them, either. That mistake just made her remember her father, and his ‘always be ready’ lifestyle. No, no time to be negative now. Think about something else.

Detonation. Charges. Voices run through her earpiece, Reyes’ voice pointing and directing. Great minds think alike, apparently. “Hey, Jaal, maybe it’s time you step away from the door.” 

Taking herself off mute, she decides to break up Reyes being all bossy for just a minute. “So, we’re aiming for at least ten feet high, right?” Jaal doesn’t move immediately, and well, she quite literally drags him by the arm from the door. Didn’t want to fill out a report later going ‘sorry, Moshae and Evfra, my boyfriend got your guy killed by accident’. That wouldn’t look good.

_“I recommend finding something to hide behind.”_

“You don’t say,” Cora mutters, and they manage to push a few of the sturdier crates together, forming a barrier. “Are we really going to do this?” 

Ariel settles for raising her hands above her shoulders, something in the way of an ‘I honestly don’t know’ expression. “We’ve not really got any other option, here… Alright, Reyes, we’re — uh — as ready as we can be.”

_“Detonate!”_

No amount of filtering stops the piercing sound of bombs going off. Blowing the door completely out the frame, it does manage to hit the front of their small defence. Screeches of metal against metal wouldn’t be leaving her ears any time soon, but they were alive, and that was light. She had never been more relieved to see the surface of a planet before. Laughter, that was more the last of her adrenalin leaving her than anything else, spills from her lips as Ariel stands on shaky legs. What were the goddamn chances of running into the Collective out here?

Climbing up the last set of stairs, absolute last ones that definitely led to the surface, Ariel does one more sweep of the area. Whatever Reyes wanted her to find, she didn’t see it. The only thing she found was a few mercenaries with Eclipse gang tattoos, dead terminals and some supplies that could be moved to the outpost. Not an entire waste of time, but damn if she wasn’t tired. And she’d run out of the chocolate flavoured protein bars, turning her nose up at the strawberry ones Cora had offered when they’d finally stopped.

At least it wasn’t vanilla. That would’ve just made her stomach turn.

Finally, her feet meets dirt, and she pops the seals on her helmet. Fresh air. Helmet held against her side under one arm, fingers immediately reach for the hood of her undersuit. Jaal moved with the same urgency she did, and Ariel wanted to laugh a little. “How far from the Nomad, SAM?” she asks, shaking out her hair. Shower when she got back the Tempest, definitely. The smell of smoke was still clinging to her armour, which only meant she was going to smell a lot worse when it all came off.

“Ten feet from your location, Ryder.”

“Uh, what?” SAM was nothing if not right. Once her eyes adjusted to natural lighting, Ariel could see the Nomad parked in front of her, as if nothing was amiss. “Did we end up where we started?” That would be right, getting turned around inside a mountain to only end up where they started.

“No.”

“Then how…?”

As if on cue, the door to the Nomad opens. 

“You have got to be shitting me.” Cora’s voice catches Ariel off guard, and she notices the woman had appeared at her shoulder. “Well, I’ll give him one thing, Ryder. He’s nothing if not efficient.” Was that the sound of grudging respect? Ariel knew better than to tease, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face as she walked towards the vehicle.

“Come here often?”

Reyes tilts his head back as he laughs. They don’t reach for each other, but Ariel can’t stop the gravitation, hip against the vehicle, hoping she was coming off just as sexy as what she thought she was looking like. But there was sheer relief on his face, and she lets him take her chin in hand, tilting her back and forth to assess damage. 

“Not as often as I probably should. Are you into the habit of falling down mine shafts?”

“I should tell you about that one time I dropped a building while I was still in it, Reyes. That would get a laugh out of you.”

He says something, something that gets lost in the way she notices that he looks considerably more tired than usual. A few more lines around his eyes, the way his mouth turns down at the corners when he finally lets go. Ariel won’t press for details. They would come later, surely, when it was the right time. Exhaustion wasn’t a good look on Reyes, and she chewed the inside of her mouth at that.

“So, what’s a man like you actually doing out here? Not that I don’t appreciate the assist, but…” Trailing off, Ariel sends a very pointed look to the other Collective members who started to filter into the now open tunnel. Something tells her that she should be somewhat suspicious of what she had actually fallen into, but now that she had time to simply _stand_ , her body decided to remind her that it was exhausted and spent. SAM must have been at capacity too, from the absolute silence on his end. Just made her wonder what kind of feelings he was withholding so that she made it to the end.

“Business.”

“Always is.”

“No, this is considerably more… _personal_.” The way he avoids her eyes then. Only ever got this way when it came to the life before now. Something from the Milky Way followed him to Andromeda? Reyes was clever, but he was rarely ever sloppy. And to drag him out into the field too…

“I’m sure Keema is pleased you’re playing cowboy.”

Reyes snorts. “She’ll appreciate this later. Right now though…” Patting the hood of the Nomad, he gives her a tight, tired smile. “You should consider clearing out. My people get a little cagey when you’re around.”

Ariel smiles at that, patting his cheek. “I’ll go. Only because you asked so nicely.”

“No questions?”

“Plenty for later.”

Puffing out a laugh, Reyes holds the door open for her. Ariel sends a quick nod to Cora and Jaal, who look more pleased than she felt. A ‘finally’ leaves Cora, and Ariel is sure she’s already asleep in the passenger seat before she actually made it in. “Later, then.”

Just as he pushes himself off, Ariel pauses, arms folding over the steering wheel as she rests her cheek there. “Hey, Reyes?”

Stops. Turns. Gives her his full attention. “Yes?”

“How did you know I was out here?”

“I was in the area,” he only stops to smile when she rolls her eyes, “and saw your vehicle at the base of an entrance we were going to enter. What are the chances, hm?”

“That simple?”

“That simple.”

There’s more. There is always _more_. But Ariel accepts it, because her brain hurts and her arms hurt and she’s got to drive for a little more. “Alright. Send me an email if you need anything. We’re not leaving orbit just yet, probably.”

Reyes simply gives the hood two firm pats, and Ariel throws the Nomad into reverse. In the rearview, he had already made his way up to the entrance, hands pointing back and forth, people running up to him. If he looks back, she doesn’t see it. Not that it mattered, oh no. She was nearing her required visit to Ditaeon, after all. Only a few more weeks to go. 

Once the mountain had begun to finally go flat in the distance, Ariel slows the Nomad to a crawl, speaking up finally. “So… do we actually go try to find that navpoint, or are we feeling a shower?”

From the backseat, Jaal speaks up, eyes firmly closed and voice just barely above a mumble. “Ryder, you know the answer to that one.”

Laughing, Ariel hits the button, signalling for an extraction. “Only fucking around. I need a nap.”

**Author's Note:**

> i used... my ryder's name again sry.
> 
> obv this is post-game. and like i know reyes is all ~sits in tartarus~ but i'm sure that, every so often, he does have to work the field to maintain a persona of being **Just** a smuggler that operates for the charlatan. like that's just my hc... idk if it's rly in canon. 
> 
> uh, this is filled w a lot of hc too, and kind of elements of my made up backstory for reyes, plus a few other things. ig. this ended up so much longer than what i was going for lmao. i'm working on it in the other fic i have for him, and ig some of these fics I've written are just building that up as opposed to a single multi chap. anyway sry rambling
> 
> thank you for reading!


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